A similar transmission assembly is disclosed in my U.S. patent application Ser. No. 349,753, filed Apr. 10, 1973, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,905,253, issued Sept. 16, 1975, in which there is provided a transmission assembly comprising an input shaft; a take-off shaft in co-axial alignment with said input shaft; a first gear fixedly mounted on said input shaft and in co-axial alignment therewith; a second gear fixedly mounted on said take-off shaft and in co-axial alignment therewith; a transmission element rotatably mounted on said input and take-off shafts; at least one gearing arrangement rotatably carried by said transmission element, each at least one gearing arrangement meshing with said first and second gears; restraining means for controlling the rate of rotation of said transmission element so as to regulate the speed of rotation of said take-off shaft; wherein said restraining means comprises an additional gearing assembly including at least one further gearing arrangement rotatably mounted in said transmission element, the additional gearing assembly being adapted to develop a torque to approximate the rotation of the transmission element; a third gear fixedly mounted on said takeoff shaft in co-axial alignment therewith; a fourth gear fixedly mounted on an output shaft in co-axial alignment therewith; said transmission element being rotatably mounted on said input, take-off, and output shafts respectively; and each further gearing arrangement being similar to said at least one gearing arrangement and serving to provide a driving connection between said third and fourth gears.
The above transmission assembly has some drawbacks in that the speed of rotation of the gear carrying member during use is very high and also since the member rotates in an opposite direction to the input shaft a condition of direct drive through the member cannot be achieved. Additionally, it is not possible to obtain a condition of neutral wherein the input solely drives the gear carrying member resulting in the take-off shaft remaining stationary.
It is a general object of the present invention to overcome the above drawbacks.